The Life of Elizabeth Mae
by leah.griffin.355
Summary: Libby is a typical teenager, struggling with hormones, family and making friends isn't easy for her. At least she has Harriet, the one person she can really count on. When problems at home begin to escalate, Libby is forced to make the decision to run away from home. Her adventure really starts once she finds something very shocking in an abandoned warehouse.


N/A: Hi guys, this is my first story so I hope you enjoy! Please don't hesitate to review as i would love hearing your feedback. That's it for now. Thanks guys :)

Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday Freddy." We all sing to him as he giggles and squirms with joy as he catches sight of his birthday cake being carried into the room.

I think Sarah has over done it today. The cake is huge, obviously. Only the best for her only child. The cake is just a big chocolate one with an added extra coating of chocolate icing. If she wants to make him sick then fine. To stop myself from saying something stupid about it I dart over to my little brother to give him a kiss on the cheek before the monstrous cake is set in front of him. The cake is so big it is quite comical to just see one lonesome candle standing in the middle. Freddy sucks in a big breath, blew as hard as he could and the flame disappeared into smoke. He laughed so hard it was infectious. We let him blow out his candle again by lightening another one that dad had in his hand.

We let Freddy choose what slice of the cake he wanted first as he was the birthday boy. I wasn't in the mood for cake but I took a piece anyway to be polite to Sarah. Most of her home cooking never turns out appetizing, so I was surprised when it actually tasted quite good. She must have cheated and used a cake mix from a box.

After the mini birthday party everyone retired to their own areas. Mine was the loft where my bedroom was located. I shared with my sister but it didn't bother me because she was hardly ever at home. Downstairs I could hear "Finding Nemo" starting up again on the telly. Must be Freddy's request that Sarah and dad must watch it again with him. Poor them.

I grab my sketchpad from under my mattress and start doodling inside. My peace s soon disrupted when I hear my sister come bounding up the stairs.

"God, I don't think I can sit through that film again! I don't know how dad and Sarah put up with it!" She huffs and plops down into her swivel chair at her desk. "Mind if I go on Skype quick sis?"

"No problem Emmy." I dare not use her full name she hated it and I could relate as I hated my name too.

Elizabeth Mae Browne. Ugh. And my sister's name is Clementine Maude Browne. Double ugh. When our parents named us they must have bought an outdated baby name book and thought that these names were "in". I shouldn't moan about it though, maybe our mum wanted us to be different rather than having the same names as everyone else. Or maybe she just really liked old fashioned things. Of course I wouldn't know as I didn't know my mum very well. She died of breast cancer when I was three years old. Em knows more about her but she never wants to talk about her. It's quite sad that everyone in my family just shuts out the fact that mum is dead and never coming back. It seems like everyone has forgotten her but me.

My phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. We may have old fashioned names but at least we are allowed mobile phones.

What are you up to?

I smiledown at my phone. And reply back quickly.

Nm just doodlin. U?

Planning a day out for you tomorrow

Yr not comin?

Yes of course, but this is a day just for you. I feel like you need a stress relieving day

Sounds perfect

Good because you don't get a choice in coming or not!

I love Harriet. She is my best friend. Why she didn't just use text talk I don't know. We are like twins because we always know what each other are thinking. I first met Harriet when I was five, just before I was about to start school. I was at play group that day playing on my own in the corner with a Barbie, when Harriet toddled over and silently handed me another Barbie from the toy box. I accepted it and then we ended up playing together for the rest of that afternoon until Dad came to pick me up. It's quite amazing how I remember something like that considering that I am now fifteen. I was quite an odd ball before I had Harriet to be friends with though and that's because I never had the knack of just going up to strangers and making conversation. I still am not very good at that but that doesn't matter because I don't need any other friends.

"What you smiling about over there?" Em says, gesturing to my smiling face.

"Nothing, just Harriet is planning a big stress relieving day for me tomorrow." I reply.

"Oh. Have fun. Wish I could come that sounds like heaven." She mumbles then turns back to her computer.

She always acts funny when I talk about Harriet and I can't ever figure out why. _Maybe she's just jealous I have a best friend and she doesn't,_ I thought.

I look over at the clock. Only ten thirty.

"I'm going to sleep." I told Em.

"Why so early?" She ask.

"I gotta get a good night's sleep because most of the time Harriet's special planned days are usually quite intense." I explain with a sigh.

"Okay sis. Night." Emmy reply. "I'm gonna get off Skype now anyway. Yeah...I'll talk to you tomorrow...yeah same time...okay...bye!"

She was still saying goodbye to her friend five minutes later. I roll my eyes at her. _Typical Em_, I thought. I try to tune her out and concentrate on sleep when I hear her suddenly say "I love you" and then the call on the screen ended. I hadn't been paying attention to who she was talking to before, but now I'm interested. Very.

"Who was that you were talking to then?" I question her as soon as she was settled in her bed across from mine.

"Uh...no-one." She's turned bright red. "Gee it's hot in here."

She gets up and opens the window in our bedroom. She stands there for a few minutes, probably thinking of an excuse. I don't know how she could be warm as it is the usual freezing British weather. Also adding to that factor is that it is the middle of November.

"Em...have you...got a boyfriend?" I ask.

My sentence hangs in the air for a couple of moments before she answers quietly.

"Yes." She whispered. She then sighs heavily as she makes her way back into her bed.

"But Dad will go mad if he finds out." I remind her.

"I know." She huffs in frustration. "But Dad won't find out because _we _aren't going to tell him are we Libby?" Libby is my nickname. I prefer it more than my actual name surprisingly enough.

"Oh okay I get ya." I reply quickly. "So...how long have you been together then?"

"Not long. Only a month. I can't believe I managed to keep it from you for so long." She laughs nervously.

"Well next don't try to hide things from me. I _am_ your sister and I _do _sleep in the same room as you, so don't try to keep things like this from me because you know I've always got your back Emmy." I tell her. I feel a little hurt that she didn't tell me this sooner, but it wasn't really something I _should_ know. It was more like something I _had _to know.

"I know." She sighs in defeat. "Thanks Libby."

"No problem. Now let's get some shut eye. Night Em." I say as I snuggle deeper under the quilt.

"Night Lib."

I wake up to the sound of my phone vibrating on the bedside table. I pick it up and quickly answer.

"Hey." I said.

"Good morning sleepy head!" It is so good to hear her voice.

"What time is it?" I mumble as the numbers on the alarm clock begin to focus.

"Nine fifteen exact!" Harriet exclaims. "I'm downstairs by the way."

"What? Why didn't you just come up here and wake me up?"

"Well because it's almost impossible to ever wake you up in person. It never leaves you in a good mood and I want you to be happy today!" She replies.

"Oh okay." I sound confused because I am still half asleep, but the awake half of my brain is quick to remind me that she always does crazy things like this. "So where are we going?"

"I'll tell you when you get down here! Put clothes on that you can change out of quickly if you have to." She explains.

"Okay." I hang up and drag myself over to my shared wardrobe.

I looked at my selection of clothes, then sighed because my sisters half of the wardrobe look so much more interesting and stylish. My sister was only two years older than me, but it was crazy how different we were. She went to college now studying media studies which I found very boring. I want to go to do art at college, but sister thought it was a waste of time. I just ignored her. She had many friends and was quite popular, whereas I only have one friend, but I don't care. I quickly pulled on a pair of dark skinny jeans, pulled a fluffy jumper over my head and then made my way downstairs.

The first face I saw was dads. He looked upset or confused. Maybe both, but about what? I didn't have time to dwell before I was pulled into a hug from Harriet.

"Hi." She grins like a Cheshire cat.

"Hi." I grin back at her, although I'm distracted by my dad's expression. What is wrong with him?

Sarah breezes through the room and puts her arms around dad, rubbing his arms.

"Ready to go?" Harriet asks, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sure."

"Take your mobile and keys Libby." Sarah tells me.

"Got them. See you guys later!" I call as I'm being dragged out of the house by Harriet. I try to push my worries about dad out of my head so I could enjoy my day. I don't succeed.

"Hey do you know what was up with my dad?" I asks Harriet as we queue to board the bus that had just stopped outside the bus stop at the end of my street.

"Um...no. I think he was just ill or something." She reply.

"Oh I see. Maybe it was that sickly cake Sarah had made for Freddy's birthday." I reassure myself. That could easily explain why Sarah looked so guilty.

"Probably." She hands her money over to the driver, takes her ticket from the machine and then takes a seat at the back of the bus. I get my ticket and join her.

"You know you still haven't told me where we are going." I remind her.

"We are going to town." She simply answers.

"Yes I know, but _where _exactly in town are we going?" I press.

"We are going to a beauty salon in town. We are having our nails done!" She exclaims excitedly.

I roll my eyes at her. "You know me better than I know myself. So why are you taking me there when you know full well I have never really enjoyed that sort of thing?"

"You'll like this trust me."

Just over an hour later, we are heading towards McDonalds and I have to admit that I did actually enjoy having my nails done. The acrylics I picked out look so pretty yet so fragile I was afraid of breaking them, but Harriet assured me that they have never broken on the day of getting them before with her. I am looking down at my hands now as we queued up to order our food.

"Did you enjoy yourself then?" Harriet asks.

"Yes I did. Thank you for paying I owe you one." I said sincerely.

Her reply was a triumphant smile that spread across her face for a second before we were called over to the till to order. We get our food and then walk over to a free table.

"So how was Freddy's party then?" She asks once we settle down into one of the empty booths. Why, oh why does she have to be the quizzing type person?

"Great. He loved every single present. Dad even let him blow out his candle twice." I hope my snappy attitude wasn't anything to do with me being jealous of my half brother.

"Oh that's good." She paused. I knew what was coming next. "Did your Dad let you do that on your birthday?" She asks, looking at me with knowing eyes through her long lashes.

_Damn she's caught on to my mood, _I thought. How does she read me so well?

"No because Sarah's child is obviously more important than my mother's children." I said sourly.

"You know that isn't true. Your Dad loves you and Clementine too!" She insists.

"I know, but it's just different. The way he treats Freddy is very different to how he treated us when we were little." I should just shut up now. _Harriet doesn't want to know your family problems Libby,_ I remind myself. "Can we talk about something else please?"

"Sure." She said simply.

Once we had finished our food, we made our way outside only to discover that the heaviest of rain was now pouring from the sky.

"Oh dear." Harriet frowns, looking at the sky with evil eyes.

"I didn't bring a coat!" I voice with irritation mainly aimed at my friend standing next me because she was the one that had rushed me out the door this morning and made me forget to bring a coat.

"We'll just have to run then!" She nearly shouts, showing a face splitting grin. _Oh Harriet, always up for a challenge_. Suddenly she turns around and bolts out into the stormy weather.

I have no choice but to take off after her, squinting my eyes so I can see her through the rain. She is so much faster than me and it annoys me that she never got a stitch after ten minutes of running and I always did. After what seemed like an eternity, we make it back to the bus station just in time. There is a line of people queuing to get onto our bus so we quickly got to the back of the line and seeing no other option, we waited while the rain drenched us.

Once we got back to my house, my hair was so wet that when I rang it out, the moisture in my hair dripped into a little puddle onto the floor in the hall.

"Oops." I mutter under my breath as I take off my sodden trainers. Harriet does the same and then pads through to the living room.

"Hey Libby. How was town?" Dad asked without looking up from his paper. He seemed to have resolved whatever was bothering him this morning.

"Fine. Look." I walk over to him and shove my hands in front of his face so he could see my new nails.

"Oh wow." He didn't look very interested until he took sight of the rest of me. "Oh my god! Libby! Don't come into the house soaking wet! Take those wet clothes off and get them washed! You know what to do. Harriet you can go home now." His mood all of a sudden changed from being laid back to being horribly stern. He's _never_ like this.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow Hun." Harriet pulls me into a hug.

"Oh no. She's not going anywhere tomorrow. Sorry Harriet. Nice to see you." His stiff face turns into a bright smile for a second and then it was back to angry dad. Sometimes I feel like he would have preferred Harriet as a daughter rather than me.

Harriet lets go of me and then lets herself out, turning to give me a small wave before she left. Everyone is silent for a moment before dad finally spoke up.

"Go up to your room Libby. I'll call you down in a bit when we're ready to talk."

_Talk about what? _I question in my head. I obey and retreat up to my room.

He didn't call me. I listen to the muttering coming from downstairs for a long time trying to decipher it before Emmy bursts into the room. She makes me jump because I had been sat so still and quiet for a long time.

"What do they want to talk to me about?" I question.

"Best if it comes from _them_." She snaps.

I recoil and shrink deeper into my bed. What's eaten her? What have _I_ done? What have _they_ done? _What_ is _going_ on?!

Emmy jumps into her bed and turns off her bedside lamp, leaving the room to fill with darkness. I look over at the clock. _Nine thirty? _She never usually goes to bed this early. What wrong with her? I have so many questions, but I hold my tongue, knowing full well my sister is not one to pester when she is angry. _I will just have to wait for my answers tomorrow,_ I conclude.

I try for a very long time that night to get some sleep, but the same questions continue to swirl round in my brain. I shut my eyes, but nothing happens. I can't sleep. It is almost impossible to ignore the questions that are stinging my brain again and again like angry wasps. I give up trying to sleep around two and get up to get a glass of water. As I tiptoe out to the bathroom, I hear sobbing coming from dads room. I freeze when I see the bedroom light turn on. _Oh no, they've heard me_. I turn and quietly return back to the safety of my room. I sigh with relief when I hear them get back into bed and turn the light out. After a few moments of waiting, I decide my thirst overruled going back to bed, so I head back to the bathroom. This time I make it without disturbing anyone. I grab a plastic cup from the glass cabinet above the sink, and fill it up with icy water from the running tap. On the way back to my bedroom, I see a strange white mist hanging in the air, shifting ever so slightly into another form. I blink my eyes and the mist is gone. I come to the conclusion that I am so tired my eyes have started to trick me into seeing things that aren't there. I hurry back into bed, take a sip from my glass and then set it on the side. I snuggle deep under the covers and soon I succumb to sleep.

My eyes slowly flutter open, then they start to droop again. I sigh and roll over to see if changing the way I was facing would send me back to sleep, but I couldn't get the strange whispering out of my head.

"Ángele Dei,

Qui custos es mei,  
Me, tibi commissum pietáte supérna,  
Hodie illúmina, custódi,  
Rege et gubérna.

Amen."

The strange whispering carried on repeating this over and over. I couldn't understand a word of it but it sounded like a prayer spoken in Spanish or maybe Italian? I just don't have enough knowledge to decipher the language. Once I managed to force my eyes wide open, I could see the peculiar mist again, floating at the foot of my bed. This time the mist had changed form. This time the mist looked like some sort of a person. Someone very small, but the large wing-like feature that was expanding from the back of this white mist/person, was what caught my attention. _Harriet, _I thought. I shook my head vigorously. Where had that thought come from? I'm so tired, dazed and very confused. I collapse back into my pillow and was immediately knocked back into a slumber. I dream continuously throughout the night until the morning about those wings and that foreign whispered prayer.


End file.
